John Crafke, 15 year old Rushville high school freshman, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Crafke, Sr., of that city, was fatally wounded early Monday when he was struck in the right temple by a bullet discharged from a .22 rifle as he was taking the gun from a closet.
The shooting took place at the home of his aunt, Mrs. Fannie Teel, with whom he lived while attending high school. He died thirty minutes later at the hospital in Rushville.
A verdict of accidental death was returned by a coroner’s jury.
According to testimony of his aunt, father, and others in the house at the time of the shooting, the lad went to a closet to get the rifle, apparently to clean it. The shot was heard and the relatives rushed to the boy’s side to find he had been shot in the temple. They expressed the opinion that the loaded rifle, which was left off safety, discharged when jarred or when the trigger caught on something in the closet. No one actually saw the shooting. The boy was rushed to the hospital immediately after the shooting but died without regaining consciousness.
The boy was born and reared in Michigan until two years ago when he moved to Rushville.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus